"I think if we were not caught in the meshes of that wretched Augustinian scheme of theology which postulates eternal hell to compel us to accept it, -- I think, I say, if it were not for this theology, all Christendom must have long ago come to see, that, at the very least, God feels towards a sinner as a saint would do, and not as a man less good, or wise, or merciful.

We do not think man's evil can, in the long run of the ages, finally outspeed God's ever-pursuing mercy. He must overtake us sooner or later. We may temporarily choose evil rather than good, and vileness instead of nobleness, and be ungrateful and sinful. But God will get the better of us at last."

#128 - This is a thrilling poem by Matthew Arnold, keeping in mind the following fact.Universalism was The Prevailing Doctrine Of The Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Yearshttp://hellbusters.8m.com/updcontents.html

As students of the history of Christian doctrine know, among believers in eternal torment, Tertullian was one of the most extreme. That is why I think this poem is so powerful. It sent a thrill up and down my spine.

"He saves the sheep, the goats he doth not save!"So rang Tertullian's sentence, on the sideOf that unpitying Phrygian sect which cried, --"Him can no fount of fresh forgiveness laveWho sins, once washed by the baptismal wave!"So spake the fierce Tertullian. But she sighed,The infant church, of love she felt the tideStream on her from her Lord's yet recent grave,And then she smiled, and in the Catacombs,With eye suffused, but heart inspired true,On those walls subterranean, where she hidHer head in ignominy, death and tombs,She her Good Shepherd's hasty image drew,And on His shoulders, not a lamb, a kid.

I deem they greatly err, who holdThat He Who made the human soul,Will not its destinies controlFor final good – but, wrathful, foldIt in the shrouds of hopeless woe,Of deathless gloom, of quenchless fire,The creatures of His vengeful ire,Whence it can never ransom know.

So, in the world to come, His loveShall freely unto all abound;Even prisoners in the depths profoundShall see His kind face beam aboveTheir dreary cells, and hear His voice,Unheeded once, in mercy call, --"Turn, turn to Me and live!" and allShall hear the summons and rejoice.

Lost men, lost angels, shall return, --Satan himself be purified;Death shall be conquered in his pride,And hell's fierce fires shall cease to burn.Then shall our God be All in all –His love bear universal sway;His love preserves all souls for aye,Nor shall the weakest fear a fall.

#130 – FROM A SERMON ON UNIVERSALISM – Stopford A. Brooke"That Christ should have descended to assume the nature of all men, only to cast them away as refuse to be burned, does so contradict His revelation that it is no wonder that the idea of everlasting damnation should have destroyed men's belief.

No, the earthly dead will move on, a mighty stream to mingle in the ocean of the righteousness of God, on that far off but certain day when God will be All in all."

"Given a hell of torment and despair for millions of our friends and fellow men, can the good enjoy heaven except by becoming bad, -- miraculously changed and changed deplorably for the worst. In a word, putting on, along with the white garments of the redeemed, a coldness and hardness of heart? Does not this simple refection suffice to disperse into thin air the current notions of a world of everlasting pain?"

"We do not deny that the wages of sin is death. We do not deny the necessity and certainty of punishment. Only tell us not that it must be endless, and thereby destroy its whole purpose. We too believe in an eternal fire, but we believe its existence to be not a curse but a blessing. That fire is God Himself Who taketh away the sins of the world, and of Whom it is therefore written, 'Our God is a consuming fire."

"We do not deny that the wages of sin is death. We do not deny the necessity and certainty of punishment. Only tell us not that it must be endless, and thereby destroy its whole purpose. We too believe in an eternal fire, but we believe its existence to be not a curse but a blessing. That fire is God Himself Who taketh away the sins of the world, and of Whom it is therefore written, 'Our God is a consuming fire."

#134 – DISPUTED POINTS – George Dawson"Take the doctrine in which most of you were brought up – that every man who is not saved will go to hell, and that hell is a constant fire whereunto a man must be condemned forever.

I am told this is in the Scriptures. I can't find it; but if it were there I would not believe it. I was told that it was so, and I have no doubt I said it was so. But now I disbelieve it. If this is backsliding, I will backslide.

Well, how came we ever to doubt this horrific doctrine? Not that any commentator with marvelous exegesis showed us that the text did not mean that; -- for I am but little interested in the quibble that the fire burns forever, but that the thing put into the fire burn only so long as it is capable of burning.

What has put hell fire out is a better understanding of God, and a fuller comprehension of the quality of God's love. The love of God conquers the assertion of orthodoxy."

"Oh, ye who are wrapped in the selfishness of a single idea! – ye who bode eternal destruction to others! Look out upon the world and learn that there are millions of human hearts as sincere and devoted as yours, who perceive a divine power great and good and merciful enough to save all, even to the weakest and most benighted."

#136 – BODY AND MIND – George Moore"Every soul that is out of keeping with divine order must remain, in the license of a perverse will, forever vile, until restored to the dominion of truth by the attractiveness of light, and the miseries of darkness."

I cannot believe that any being will exist in any part of the universe, so steeped in guilt and anguish (no, not Satan himself), as to be beyond the redeeming love and healing power of the Creator.

Oh, no; on the contrary, I believe that in this mysterious, but divinely ordained conflict of good and evil, the powers of light are everywhere slowly but surely gaining the ascendancy over the powers of darkness, and that it will continue to be so, even unto the perfect day; yes, that perfect day, wherein all these blessed victories over sin and ignorance shall have been consummated, these transformations completed, and no solitary stain of folly, guilt, or grief, be left to mar the luster of the universe."

#138 – CHILDHOOD OF THE WORLD – Edward Clodd"You would think your father very hard and cruel if he loaded you with good things, and sent your brothers and sisters to some homeless spot to live uncared for and unloved. And yet that is exactly what some people say that God does. They have spoken of Him Who has give life to every man, woman and child as staying near only a few of His creatures, and leaving the rest to care for themselves.

Believe that He who is called our Father is better, more just, more loving, than the best fathers can be."

"The word translated 'everlasting' or 'eternal' expresses time, and not eternity.

Punishment that does not end in reformation is vindictiveness, which cannot be ascribed to our Merciful Father.

How then has it come to pass that belief in eternal punishment took root in the Christian church?

Ancient doctors of the church, mislead by theoretical conclusions, declared that sin was an infinite transgression, to be atoned for only by an infinite expiation. The doctrine is the child of human reasoning."

I cannot believe that any being will exist in any part of the universe, so steeped in guilt and anguish (no, not Satan himself), as to be beyond the redeeming love and healing power of the Creator.

Oh, no; on the contrary, I believe that in this mysterious, but divinely ordained conflict of good and evil, the powers of light are everywhere slowly but surely gaining the ascendancy over the powers of darkness, and that it will continue to be so, even unto the perfect day; yes, that perfect day, wherein all these blessed victories over sin and ignorance shall have been consummated, these transformations completed, and no solitary stain of folly, guilt, or grief, be left to mar the luster of the universe."

Eph 3:7-11 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There would be know need to make the manifold wisdom of God known, through the church, if the principalities and powers were to be eternally tormented or annihilated, would there?

#138 – CHILDHOOD OF THE WORLD – Edward Clodd"You would think your father very hard and cruel if he loaded you with good things, and sent your brothers and sisters to some homeless spot to live uncared for and unloved. And yet that is exactly what some people say that God does. They have spoken of Him Who has give life to every man, woman and child as staying near only a few of His creatures, and leaving the rest to care for themselves.

Believe that He who is called our Father is better, more just, more loving, than the best fathers can be."

Yes Amen!! This was one of the major problems I had with traditiional views.

"Our belief is that man, being governed and trained through time, a good and happy result must ensue to each individual. The idea of hell fire and eternal torment, when properly considered, is an idea that is alike blasphemous and illogical.

God has ordained that every man shall sooner or later, recognize and appreciate His blessings. Nothing else is consistent with His determinate will. God is a God of infinite goodness, not of vengeance; to be loved; to be worshiped for love's sake, not through fear of everlasting punishment. We believe that every man will eventually love Him, and strive more and more to serve Him."

"Through discords of sin and sorrow, pain and wrong, truth rises, a deathless melody whose notes of wailing are hereafter to be changed to those of triumph as they blend with the great harmony of a reconciled universe."

"Through discords of sin and sorrow, pain and wrong, truth rises, a deathless melody whose notes of wailing are hereafter to be changed to those of triumph as they blend with the great harmony of a reconciled universe."

Rev 5:9-14 And they sang a new song, saying:

" You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we[f] shall reign on the earth."

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:

" Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"

And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

" Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!"

Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

"In Romans 5, the justification is co-extensive with the condemnation. Since all share in one, all share in the other. If only a certain portion of the human race had partaken of the sin of Adam, only a certain portion would partake of the justification of Christ. But St. Paul affirms all to have been involved in one, and all to be included in the other."

"Nothing can be more contrary to the divine nature and attributes, than for a God all wise, all-good, all-powerful, and all-perfect, to bestow existence on any being Who He foreknows must terminate in wretchedness and misery without respite of end. His goodness could never give birth to any one being, and much less to numberless beings whose end He foresaw would be irretrievable misery; nor could even His justice inflict everlasting punishment.

God made all His creatures finally to be happy; He could never make any whose end He foreknew would be misery everlasting. God is love; infinite benevolence alone prompted Him to action, and infinite benevolence combined with unerring wisdom, and supported by irresistible power, will infallibly accomplish its purpose in the best possible manner."